MTV-Kribs

[shangman]

WOW, beautiful!!! 😍 The parents are just so regal.

I didn't realise "one day" meant this year! 😂 Alas, I suspect my apistos would not be pleased to have some kribby friends, maybe I will get to keep their great-great grandfish down the line.

Love it when the fish breed, it's so magical, and 85 is a crazzzzzzzyyyyyy number! As they're so beautiful (and rare?) I'm sure you'll have no problems finding homes - as well as UKAPS, I also found people via facebook (apisto group, bet there's one for kribs too), and my LFS took the rest very happily.

 

[ScareCrow]

How's things since increasing the macros?

Sorry @Courtneybst I realised I didn't answer you question. Things have improved since increasing the macros by 5ml. Old leaves have been dropped and new leaves look healthy.

Love it when the fish breed, it's so magical, and 85 is a crazzzzzzzyyyyyy number! As they're so beautiful (and rare?)

Yeah I like to try and breed (or at least spawn) everything I keep if possible. I think it gives more insight into keeping something, rather than just sustaining it.
I've read that up to 300 eggs can be laid so, I'm glad that I've only got 85😂
I don't know how rare they are. I certainly struggled to find this colour variant though. I believe they used to come from a German source but don't know if that was the case with this pair.
They're growing quite quickly as things are but I want to setup a grow out tank in the next few weeks.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

@shangman, you said you wanted to keep kribs so I'm reading that as you'll be taking a pair or maybe more 😂.

but this P. taeniatus 'Nigerian red' artificial colour variant seems to be more tricky.

You could try the "British Cichlid Society" Facebook group, you aren't allowed to advertise them for sale, but you could gauge interest.

cheers Darrel

 

[ScareCrow]

Hi all,


You could try the "British Cichlid Society" Facebook group, you aren't allowed to advertise them for sale, but you could gauge interest.

cheers Darrel

Thanks for the suggestion Darrel. I've not used Facebook in years. A few people have told me about fish related groups on there so I may have to give it another go.
There's an independent shop near me that closer to the time I'll contact. I'm not sure with covid whether shops would have been able to sell many fish and so taking on more might just add to the overhead cost but we'll see.

 

[ScareCrow]

Not sure if some of the fry are starting to develop colouration. There are a few with a dark horizontal band (the most prominent is towards the top left). If it is adult colouration I hope these aren't the only females. With my parameters of pH around 7.5 (this could be nonsense given my TDS) and TDS 140 I'm expecting a fairly even mix of males and females.

 

[John q]

Would love to caption the above photo"dad, why you worried about tds"

On a serious note are these kribensis worried about ph, tds. I'm thinking of adding some pelvicachromis taeniatus "moliwe" but concernd they won't be happy with ph 7.2 and tds of 200. Thoughts..

 

[ScareCrow]

Would love to caption the above photo"dad, why you worried about tds"

On a serious note are these kribensis worried about ph, tds. I'm thinking of adding some pelvicachromis taeniatus "moliwe" but concernd they won't be happy with ph 7.2 and tds of 200. Thoughts..

I've not kept 'moliwe' but I imagine they'll be fine in those conditions. Most of the Pelvicachromis are quite adaptable and from what I've read they're found in a range of conditions in the wild. I believe the kribs I have are a P. taeniatus cross. The female certainly looks similar to a P.taeniatus female.
The only reason I mention pH is that there was a study, which showed a correlation between pH and gender. A higher pH results in more females. Neutral results in a more even ratio apparently. It'll be interesting to see what I end up with.

Here's a section from the paper if you're interested.

 

[John q]

Yeah I think darrel mentioned in another post ph makes a sporting difference to the resulting sexual orientation of the fry.
Thanks for the feedback 😀

 

[ScareCrow]

So not much has been happening, just the normal 50% weekly water change, daily ferts and feeding an obscene amount every day.
Quite a few of the fry (aka bebbies) are now developing a horizontal band. I've not counted but assuming these are female I'd say there are more females.
Please excuse the sponge at the back I'm trying to get it somewhat mature before setting up a grow out tank. I'll be moving lots of floating plants as well.

 

[ScareCrow]

Again not much to update other than the bebbies are now 4 weeks old. They're eating and growing at an incredible rate (they range between (10-15mm). I feed 3 times a day and try to provide as much variety as I can. I'm currently feeding banana worms, grindal worms, midge larvae, frozen daphnia, adult brineshrimp and mysis, freeze dried tubifex, TA aquaculture granules, Astaxanthin granule and a micro pellet that I forget the name of.
My frozen foods are quickly getting consumed and I tend to rely mostly on the grindal and banana worms, which I'm a little concerned about although what I've found online suggests they're a very good food source. I don't really want to use dried foods if I can avoid it so I'd like to get cultures of dero worms and moina and culture them together as I've read others on here do. If anyone knows of a supplier of dero worms, please let me know. I've posted in the wanted section so hopefully someone might have some. On eBay the only seller in the UK wants £18.99 for them, which seems a bit pricey.
Apologies for the even poorer than normal picture quality, the Amazon frogbit is shading out the majority of the light, so my phone is really struggling.

 

[ScareCrow]

Again not much has happened. I've started moving the bebbies into a grow out tank as they're getting pretty big now.
It's looking like they're predominantly female. One of the shops I spoke to with regards to rehoming them wanted pairs or trios, which might be a bit of a problem. I'm tempted to gradually increase the hardness in the tank with the adults and let them spawn again to see if I can get more males. It also seems like a stupid idea as I've not really got room to house the number I've already got.
While moving the bebbies to their grow out tank I removed all of the floating plants. This gave me the chance to see how things have matured since setting up the tank, as normally it's impossible to see past the roots of the frogbit. I'll get a full tank shot once I've finished destroying things while trying to catch the bebbies. I'm happy with the growth of the buce, considering they've been in almost total darkness. As I've removed so much cover from the top I've reduced the lighting to 25%.

 

[Courtneybst]

That buce looks cosmic! Bravo!

 

[ScareCrow]

Thanks @Courtneybst, I think it's just the lighting as other than ferts and water changes I don't do anything to the tank. I got a RGB light ages ago as I was interested to see how they'd perform. I don't think it grows anything better than the flood light I was using did but fish/plant colours look better. I want to try a floodlight that has controllable colour next. I think that will be the best budget option.

 

[ScareCrow]

The bebbies are now in their grow out tank, so time for a full tank shot. I removed the branch that was hiding the emersed plant basket. I think I'm going to add some smaller branches with some branches sticking out into the tank. I can attach moss and buces to the branches, to help hide the basket and add some height. Unless anyone has any better ideas?
I like how the bottom half of the tank looks just want something to fill in the top half. I was hoping the stems would have grown in more but they haven't. So I think I fill the area where the stems currently are with ferns and have them growing through the hardscape, like they are in the middle.

 

[ScareCrow]

So the bebbies are now 8 weeks old and doing what they do................swim, eat, grow repeat.

My grindal worm cultures both started to crash at the same time so I think growth slowed for a while as I had to feed more frozen and dried foods. Not sure what caused the worms to crash. I started to run out of food for them so started trying all the alternatives I've seen mentioned online but I think they've acquired a taste for Hikari cichlid gold so I had to buy some just to feed them. Since removing the bebbies to their own grow out tank and releasing the male from solitary confinement, he's been displaying a lot but not a breeding display, so I wonder if he's re-establishing his territory. This isn't full display but he really doesn't like the camera, so this is the best I've managed. The red is much brighter in real life.

I've acquired some more plants to fill in some of the gaps that were created when I removed the stems that weren't really doing much. Thanks @Deano3 and @Wookii for some fantastic plants. I just need to add some more hardscape to mount all the epiphytes. I'm quite happy with the right side of the tank now.

I've developed a serious buce addiction and spend too much time researching how to grow them better, their natural environment and trying to source more. I'd like to ID those that I have but I've not found an accurate way without using the flower. So if anyone knows of a way please let me know.
Some new leaves.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Not sure what caused the worms to crash.

They are a <"bit prone to this">. I now know that if you suddenly seem to have a lot more Grindal worms, it is time to sub-culture. I should also say that I've managed to reduce <"my mite problem"> by keeping the cultures a lot wetter.

cheers Darrel

 

[ScareCrow]

Hi all,

They are a <"bit prone to this">. I now know that if you suddenly seem to have a lot more Grindal worms, it is time to sub-culture. I should also say that I've managed to reduce <"my mite problem"> by keeping the cultures a lot wetter.

cheers Darrel

It's interesting you mention the sudden increase. I can't say I noticed a sudden increase but I've been really trying to maximise production at the moment, which could have masked it. I find it strange that they're so finicky about food. I did read a thread where you mentioned crushing rolled oats and feeding them that. I tried that as it would've been perfect. Others suggest they'll eat pretty much anything. I'll try again to get them on to something less expensive in the future.
Thankfully I've not had mites with grindals but did have them with white worms. The white worms were so sensitive to temperature fluctuations though I just gave up in the end.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I did read a thread where you mentioned crushing rolled oats and feeding them that.

I feed both the Grindal and Micro/Banana worms on <"Rolled Oats">. They are really cheap to buy and <"nutritionally pretty good">.

.......... Whole oats (uncooked) are 68% carbohydrates, 6% fat, and 13% protein. In a 100 gram reference amount, whole oats supply 379 calories and contain high amounts (20% or more the Daily Value, DV) of the B vitamins – thiamine and pantothenic acid (40% and 22% DV, respectively) – and several dietary minerals, especially manganese (173% DV) and phosphorus (59% DV)........

I buy these:


Ground in a pestle and mortar for the Grindal worms and just sprinkled on the culture for the Micro worms.

cheers Darrel

 

[ScareCrow]

Hi all,

I feed both the Grindal and Micro/Banana worms on <"Rolled Oats">. They are really cheap to buy and <"nutritionally pretty good">.

I buy these:


Ground in a pestle and mortar for the Grindal worms and just sprinkled on the culture for the Micro worms.

cheers Darrel

Thanks Darrell, those were the ones I was using. My banana worms like them and I also eat them (the oats not the worms). I was hoping we could all sit down to breakfast together but sadly the grindal worms didn't seem keen. It could have been that the culture was crashing just as I tried to change their diet and I was feeding the same volume of oats as I was feeding Hikari pellets. Or it might have just been bad timing. Luckily I refreshed the substrate the culture was in, just in time and now they're better than before.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

but sadly the grindal worms didn't seem keen

They definitely need grinding. I used to use "Instant Oat Cereal", but it is more expensive.

I also eat them (the oats not the worms).

My wife eats them and my daughter is very keen on turning them into "flapjacks" (in both cases the oats not the worms).

cheers Darrel